Please bear with my morbid curiosity, but during the several cruises I've taken, I've considered the same question: Have there been instances of cruise passengers accidently falling over the railing and into the ocean? It seems like it would be relatively easy to do if you lost your balance, tripped or if kids were horseplaying around the railing. Has anyone ever witnessed such a thing? How would the crew respond in such an instance?

They actually gave a short dictate on this issue during our Muster on the Princess Star (Feb.2005) cruise.

They demonstrated how to throw the rope with lifesaver, yell for help (Man Overboard) and not take your eyes off his/her location etc. They emphasized not running away for help, but to keep eye contact with the victim of the accident if at all possible.

There was a slight bit of laughter, and if the ship were really moving, I doubt if you could see them long. And the lecturer did agree. But that's the official billiwick.

Observing the balconies etc.- I do suspect that you could fall overboard, but that I would guess that there would have to be a very high percentage of suicide/murder, rather than "accident". On our promenade deck (7)- I guessed that you could take a terrible running fall and by some stretch of the imagination do exactly that thing. But I would think you would have to be very, very tall. I could never "fall" over anything that high- as I am short- nor could most adults. But someone could definitely be lifted over, I would imagine.

While it does not happen often, each year you will hear of a few times when this happens. Sometimes un-explained, other times it was due to horseplay and/or intoxication, etc.

I'd guess the railings are about 42" high. Nobody could accidentally trip and fall over that railing unless they were standing on a tabletop or climbing up and sitting on top of it. Yes, negligence, but not by accident. The way people let their kids run around the ship unsupervised, late at night, I'm surprised there aren't more tragedies than there are.

We've had some threads on this subject. Here are a couple.


http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...Text=overboard

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...Text=overboard

I asked a similar question some months ago and was chastised for being insensitive. While I have only been on 2 cruises, it would have been virtually impossible to fall overboard on either ship, even if fooling around, if you tripped, or even if you were very drunk. On many decks, if you fell you would land on a deck below, not in the ocean.

Anything is possible, and freak accidents do occur. And since no one could question the fallen passenger, I guess we will never know.

I remember that thread, gail, but speaking only for myself, I saw no harm in asking the question. I was surprised by some of the replies to that thread where they were making jokes about it. As the OP of that thread, you had no control over those replies.

When you were chastised, I thought that it was out of place.

Officials /authorities always try to re-construct, if they have any partial knowledge at all.

But on my ship I looked. And there were places that you would not "hit" any part of the ship below. It's just that you couldn't easily "fall" over the barriers in the way. You would need to be climbing at some point. Of course, who knows why people do some physical actions.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their knowledge about this subject and not perceiving my question as being insensitive or out of place. This information is really interesting. I was curious about it and thought I'd ask a list of knowledgeable folks!

Read something in the San Diego paper about this happening on a cruise in Mexico just a week or so ago . Somebody saw a person fall overboard and they tossed a ring buoy and some dye over and did get him aboard shortly afterward.

On this subject, read the fictional novel "Skinny Dip". A Humorous take on this subject.